I’m not a parent, obviously, but I am a rising 9th grader. I can assure you that we all are (almost) ready to start high school!
Hmm. @IrrationalPepsi says one thing, and Angry Son’s report card and social decisions say another. 
But seriously, you’re probably right. I think things are going to look very different in the fall, and kids this age are growing, changing, and improving very rapidly.
What is the required summer reading book for your rising 9th grader? Here it is The Translator by Daoud Hari.
(they also get to pick an optional extra credit book)
D is signed up for regular English 1. She is supposed to pick one from the following: l. The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer, 2. Uglies by Scott Westerfield, or 3. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. We already had a copy of Uglies so she’s going to read that. The kids doing English 1 Honors are supposed to read all 3.
D19 is in Honors, its Fahrenheit 451, Of Mice and Men and an optional one from a list, he chose Tom Sawyer,
In D’s school this year, regular & honors get the same required book, but they get to pick the optional book from separate lists.
D’s H-English has to read 7 short stories and they have to keep a journal about each story, then number them from 1-7 (liked best, least) and then write about why they liked it best and least. That on top of my D15 taking a course at the local CC and S17 taking summer school at the HS, it feels like this school year has not ended!
No required book here, unless DS has again misunderstood directions. Strange. Every year up until now, they had to read one required book and 3 or 4 others from a long list. DS says they still have to read, and be prepared to write about what they read, just nothing in particular. Huh.
DD has to read a mythology book (forget the name) and a bunch of short stories. There is also a homework folder with assignments. She said the short stories are all online…hope she’s right! Speaking of, I thought I ordered that book from Amazon a while ago. Glad I checked in with you guys!
My D has 2 required and 1 optional book to read. Already sent in her 5 page report on a historical figure for AP History class.
While waiting for Parents of the HS Class of 2020, I found this thread is helful already, I am new to this forum and just wanted to say Hi
DS graduates 8th grade tonight B-)! Next year he’ll take
Hons English
Hons Bio
Hons Geometry
Hons World History
Hons French 2
Intro to Technology (1/2 yr)
Intro to Web Design (1/2 yr)
Gym
Curious to see how his high school experience differs from D, who is a rising Junior. Looking forward to following everyone’s journey!
Got DDs schedule for next year. Her school follows a block schedule (4 courses in the fall and 4 in the Spring).
Fall: English IA, Hon. Algebra II, Engineering (.5), Intro to Art (.5), Gym (.5), and
Health (.5)
Spring: English IB, Hon. Earth & Space Science, Hon. Am. History, Spanish I.
We opted not to go honors English for Freshman year since the school requires a double dose for everyone. She’s also moving from a very small private school to a public one and we aren’t sure about the classes for which she will be well- or ill- prepared (except for math, where a B student in her Algebra I could probably skip most of Algebra II at the new school ). She’s switching to Spanish from French, so no choice there but the non honors entry level. Hopefully it will be a grade booster.
We thought she’d be playing soccer in the fall and track in the spring, but cheerleading tryouts came first and, kinda outta nowhere she made all three (Fall, Spring & Competition) varsity squads as the only freshman to do so. So, she’s played soccer since she was 4 and only cheered for one year but it looks like that’s the direction we’re headed. Cheerleading runs through March, but she can still do track in the Spring.
Hello,
New to the forum, Thanks for creating this thread…Can’t believe my D starts high school in 2 months. Below will be her school work load.
Integrated Math 2
Honors - English
Regular - Biology
Spanish 1
Gym
Marching & Concert Band
She is going to be part of a competitive Swimming team (4 practices a week), Volley ball.
@Quagmiro congrats to your kid making the cheerleading varsity!
Thanks @scholarme. I have been an active soccer player, fan, and coach since I was 5 (which was unusual in 1971). I’ve sat through ten years of ugly youth soccer and was looking forward to finally watching some enjoyable games, so I’m in mourning just a bit ;). But she’s very happy and I’m happy for her.
I’m just going to jump in with a question: how active are you in your child’s education? Do you push them to take the hardest classes or are you more laid back? I just wanna know where y’all stand, as my parents don’t care much. You can provide any answer, don’t feel limited to two answer choices, haha.
It’s an insane balancing act here, @IrrationalPepsi. We try to be involved as little as possible without the bottom falling out. And, over time, we try to be less and less involved.
With DD '12, it was was easier, because some years it seemed like our only role was to congratulate her on her report card and encourage her to be more daring socially once in a while.
With DS '19, we had no idea what classes he should take next year because he’s smart enough to handle hard classes, but such a flake that he could easily flunk regular classes. So we signed up for a mix of honors and regular. Two teachers recommended regular classes in their subject, and then e-mailed to tell us to override their decision. We still don’t know what the heck that meant.
Until we get a report card next year, we will have NO IDEA whether he’s doing well. Because in his head, he’s ALWAYS doing well.
So first quarter of 9th grade, I’m going to be on him like the most helicoptery helicopter parent that was ever made fun of on College Confidential. If he gets A’s and B’s, I’ll back off over time. If he gets D’s and F’s, that’s another story.
We don’t see it as “pushing him” to do anything, though. He wants to push himself. He just doesn’t have the tools to succeed yet.
So put us down for “really, really involved, but not liking it that much.”
My guess without knowing you is maybe you don’t give your parents much reason to worry?
Well, I don’t care much, but I wish I had support with my choices. None of my siblings (19, 16, 14, 12, 11), mainly the two eldest, took challenging classes and so I don’t have any support there. If I wanted to do AP Biology, no one would care. I would just like input from a family member. My mom, who is separated from my dad, sort of is involved, but I only see her two times a month for two days. I don’t want to fall back on friend, as I am a few classes ahead, so I just don’t know what to do.
RoughLife. <-- Haha jokes
P.S, my dad married another woman, so that’s why I have a lot of siblings. They’re the three oldest.
It’s nice you’re involved. A push is needed sometimes.
"how active are you in your child’s education? "
@IrrationalPepsi It depends on the kid. We have 3 sons. The oldest is now a Junior at Georgia Tech. I didn’t really do anything as far as what AP classes he should take other than telling him to not over do it. Middle son will be in 11th grade next year. I tried to talk him out of AP World last year and AP US History this year because of all the extra work involved in them. It didn’t work and he went ahead with them anyway. My youngest will be in 9th grade this year. He could have taken gifted English and AP Human Geo. I said No. He is taking gifted science. The reason I did that is he needs to basically get all A’s in order to get into Georgia Tech and I feel that 9th grade is a transition year and he could end up blowing his GPA if he took them. Next year if he wants to take AP Classes I will give him my opinion but let him make his own decision. AP Biology is not easy. Have you talked to your Counselor about whether you are ready for the class?